Don't even consider flying American to Shanghai

Posted Mon August 24, 2009 4:22 pm, by Wesley R. written to American Airlines, Inc.

I recently had very poor service on a flight from Chicago to Shanghai, July 18. The flight attendants were all rather old women. This may be a product of union rules, but it made me feel unsafe when you consider the possibility of an emergency. While this may be a desirable "reward" route, they weren't very friendly. One was so obese that she ran into my shoulder nearly every time she went up the aisle during the 13 hour flight, and never once apologized. Another turned off my overhead light without asking. The final straw came when one addressed my wife as "YOU," when it came time to raise the seat back for landing, not "Ma'am," not "Miss," certainly not "Doctor." This would be shockingly rude service even from a teen at a fast food place. Are they taught to assume that Asian-looking passengers can't speak English well enough to be offended? This was the absolute worst airline service I have ever received.

If this crew is at all representative of senior flight attendants at American Airlines, then they need to send them all back to be completely retrained. Better yet, go out of business and free up a route for a competing airline that knows how to serve passengers.

I was inspired by the intensity of the defense to do a littleresearch. The respondents have made it clear that I personally don'tknow rudeness when I see it.

Of the airlines offering Chicago to Shanghai service, only Asiana israted a Five Star airline by Skytrax. Seven others are rated at fourstars: Korean Air, EVA Air, All Nippon Airways, Turkish Airlines,Lufthansa, Air France, and British Airways.

Here comes the big surprise, American Airlines comes in at threestars, for "poor or less consistent standards of Staff Service." Theirrating on JD Power was identical.

It's remarkably bad business to teach your crew to be rude to Asianpeople when their route is to China. I have to imagine that there aremore Chinese and Chinese-ancestry passengers on such a flight than,say, to Senagal.

Let's be clear: your charge is not that this particular flightattendant was showing her own racist tendencies. Your charge is thatairline's training program includes the instruction to their employeesto be actively racist towards a decent sized group of their customers.

I'll admit right now that I have not been on a plane that is largeenough to fly from Chicago to Shanghai.

My latest flight was 2 seats on each side of an aisle. The aisleappeared to be just wide enough to accommodate the attendant'scart--much less anyone weighing more than, say, 150 lbs.

As for addressing your wife with a title: How in the world is anyonesupposed to do this without insulting someone? I know I was notterribly happy to be addressed as "Ma'am" when I was 25. But "Miss"--I was married, thank you, at 22.

And, really, did the flight attendant KNOW that your wife was a"doctor"?

The main issue here: Did you get to Shanghai safely?
That would be my big concern.

After that: Did the toilets work? Could I breathe without a mask? For a13-hour flight--were you offered some type of non-alcoholicbeverage? I assume you *knew* that the flight would last 13 hours, soyou had your own snacks.

Maybe she assumed that your wife didn't understand the captain'sannouncement, which is always made before the flight attendants walkthe aisles repeating the instructions. You ask if they are taught toassume things, but you seem to be doing a bit of that yourself.
Good luck finding that mythical airline that no passenger will evercomplain about.

Did you personally witness anything that would lead you to believethat they would be unable to perform properly in the event of anemergency. Just because they were "rather old" does not mean theycannot perform their job functions. That is ridiculous. The issue ofthe obese woman is not too convenient, but the aisles are narrow.Maybe she wasn't aware she was bumping you. Were other passengersbeing bumped around as well?

Maybe there was a reason for turning off the light - was it while youwere getting ready to land? Usually everybody has to put everythingback to normal such as seats, windows, etc. prior to landing. Was itpossible you missed an announcement instructing you to do so?

As for addressing your wife as "you", I doubt it has anything to dowith her status as a doctor, female, asian, whatever. Maybe she was ina grumpy mood - I might be if I had to fly from Chicago to China...While it is unacceptable, I highly doubt it was racially driven.